Stuff to read while you're eating your cereal. A blog on history, archaeology, science, technology, and whatever else I happen to be interested in. Be sure to follow me on Twitter! @ModernCerealBox

Roman Bullets: A Lesson in Bitter Sarcasm

When I first saw someone tweet a link to this story about ancient Roman bullets, my mind immediately went to the continually-being-debunked conspiracy theory about the carving on an ancient Greek gravestone that internet commenters insist depicts a laptop.

But my skepticism was unwarranted. These bullets weren’t shot from mythical first century guns. Rather, they were lead projectiles made to be slung from slings at hapless enemy combatants. But it’s not the discovery of this collection of slingstone “bullets” that was remarkable. It was the Romans’ habit of writing insults onto them.